Ikigai

“Ikigai represents the perfect harmony between what you are passionate about, what you are good at, what your world needs, and what you can be paid for…It is the intersection of these four elements that creates a sense of purpose and drives career success. -John Tarnoff

“Prototypes help you visualize alternatives in a very experiential way”. –Design Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

Per Wikipedia:

Ikigai (生き甲斐, lit. ’a reason for being’) is a Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living.

The term compounds two Japanese words: iki (生き, meaning ‘life; alive’) and kai (甲斐, meaning ‘(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit; (no, little) avail’) (sequentially voiced as gai), to arrive at ‘a reason for living [being alive]; a meaning for [to] life; what [something that] makes life worth living; a ‘raison d’être’.

If you’re looking for a dream job or career, then it’s worth thinking about Ikigai and asking yourself the four questions in the diagram above (h/t to John Tarnoff for providing). It’s all about matchmaking. Journal about your answers. Research different fields. Talk to as many people who are actually doing the work you’re thinking about. Prototype different paths (in some cases, this might involve volunteering at various organizations). Know your world class strengths.

Keep drilling down until you get to the heart of the matter. The intersection of it all. That’s the point of maximum value and presumably, peak career happiness.

(By the way, you may find that after all this deep work, that the only way you can find your dream job is to create it yourself.)